RACING NEWS:KATIE WALSH was one of the star turns at both the Cheltenham and Punchestown festivals and the top amateur jockey will attempt to add Auteuil to the list on board Thousand Stars in Paris this Sunday.
The partnership brought off a memorable success at Cheltenham in March when landing the Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle, one of two victories Walsh had at the famous festival.
Thousand Stars followed up by finishing a fine third to his stable companion Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle at Punchestown and this weekend will line up in the Grade Two Prix La Barka at France’s premier jumps course.
Another Mullins runner, Deutschland, will also line up in the Barka with Paul Townend on board. The €75,000 event is run over almost two and three-quarter miles and is regarded as a premier trial for next month’s French Champion Hurdle over three miles-plus at Auteuil.
“We will get this Sunday out of the way first before thinking about the Champion Hurdle. Both of our horses go. I can see no reason to change things with Katie and Thousand Stars and Paul will be on Deutschland,” Mullins said yesterday. “The weather in Paris is a bit mixed and the ground is being watered. It was 30 degrees there yesterday but there is a bit of rain about as well,” he added.
Walsh received a special recognition prize at the recent National Hunt Awards for her Cheltenham exploits and at Punchestown where her winners included a valuable handicap hurdle on the Mullins-trained outsider Dorset Square.
Aidan O’Brien confirmed both the 2 to 1 favourite, St Nicholas Abbey, and the Derrinstown Trial winner, Midas Touch, will run in Saturday week’s Epsom Derby but there remains some uncertainty about the final make-up of his Epsom team.
Jan Vermeer catapulted himself to as low as 5 to 1 second favourite for Epsom after his Gallinule Stakes victory four days ago, while the Dante hero Cape Blanco is also in the mix, although he was available at 21 to 1 with Betfair at one stage yesterday.
“Jan Vermeer, who came out of his race well, and Cape Blanco also have the option of going to France,” O’Brien said.
“They haven’t sat down to sort that out yet and it will be another few days before any decision is made. Epsom has always been the plan for St Nicholas Abbey and Midas Touch.”
The Timeform organisation rate St Nicholas Abbey 4lb clear of his Derby rivals based on his Racing Post Trophy victory last October but insist the blue riband is still an open contest. “The likely presence of Rewilding, Bullet Train and Workforce, all of whom are open to further improvement themselves, suggests the colts classic is far from as cut and dried as current markets would suggest,” a spokesman said yesterday.
Michael Stoute’s Workforce worked satisfactorily on Lingfield’s all-weather track yesterday morning after which the four-time Derby winning trainer said: “He worked well and we wanted to give him experience going down a slope. I’m keen to go to Epsom.”
